Tube bundle equipment such as shell and tube heat exchangers and similar items of fluid handling devices utilize tubes organized in bundles to conduct the fluids through the equipment. In such tube bundles, there is typically fluid flow both through the insides of the tubes and across the outsides of the tubes. The configuration of the tubes in the bundle is set by the tubesheets into which the tubes are set. One common configuration for the tubes is the rectangular formation with the tubes set in aligned rows with tube lanes (the straight paths between the tubes) between each pair or rows, aligned orthogonally to one another. In this formation, each tube is adjacent to eight other tubes except at the periphery of the tube bundle and is directly opposite a corresponding tube across the tube lane separating its row from the two adjacent rows. In the triangular tube formation, the tubes in alternate rows are aligned with one another so that each tube is adjacent to six other tubes (the two adjacent tubes in the same row and four tubes in the two adjacent rows).
Fluid flow patterns around the tubes as well as the changes in the temperature and density of the fluids which arise as they circulate and result in heat exchange between the two fluids flowing in and around the tubes may give rise to flow-induced vibrations of an organized or random oscillatory nature in the tube bundle. If these vibrations reach certain critical amplitudes, damage to the bundle may result. Tube vibration problems may be exacerbated if heat exchange equipment is retubed with tubes of a different material to the original tubes, for example, if relatively stiff materials are replaced with lighter weight tubes. Flow-induced vibration may also occur when equipment is put to more severe operating demands, for example, when other existing equipment is upgraded and a previously satisfactory heat exchanger, under new conditions, becomes subject to flow-induced vibrations. Vibration may even be encountered under certain conditions when an exchanger is still in the flow stream but without heat transfer taking place.
Besides good equipment design, other measures may be taken to reduce tube vibration. Tube support devices or tube stakes as these support devices are commonly known (and referred to in this specification) may be installed in the tube bundle in order to control flow-induced vibration and to prevent excessive movement of the tubes. A number of tube supports or tube stakes have been proposed and are commercially available. One type, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,442 (Williams) has a U-shaped configuration in which the distance between the top and bottom surfaces of the channel is the same as the distance between adjacent rows in the tube bundle (i.e., is substantially the same as the tube lane dimension). This type of stake is inserted between the rows in the bundle and is secured at the end by an arcuate segment which engages a segment of a tube at the periphery of the tube bundle so as to lock the stake in place in its appropriate position between the rows in the bundle. Stakes of this type are typically made of a corrosion-resistant metal, for example, type 304 stainless steel with a thickness between 0.7 and 1.2 mm to provide both the necessary rigidity for the staked tube bundle as well as sufficient resilience in the U-shaped channel to allow the stakes to be inserted into the lanes between the tubes in the bundle.
Another form of anti-vibration tube stake is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,199 (Hahn) which discloses a stake made in a soft V-configuration strip in which saddles are formed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the strip in the open ends of these V-shaped cross sections. The saddles are formed in the strip with a pitch (distance between saddles) equal to the tube pitch and with a radius which matches that of the tubes in the tube bundle so the saddles engage with the tubes on one side of the tube lane. The engagement between these tubes and the saddles locks the tube into place in the tube bundle. The resilient nature of the strip, coupled with the spring type action provided by the V-configuration, permits the arms of the V to open and reduce the effective overall width of the stake and enables the stake to engage the tubes on both sides of a tube lane so that the V-shaped stake is locked into place between the two rows of tubes.
A similar type of tube stake is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,155 (Hahn) which discloses a U-shaped stake which is inserted between two tube lanes with the closed end of the U over one of the peripheral tubes in the bundle. Saddles are formed in the open ends of the V-shaped cross section to engage with opposite sides of the tubes in a single row in the bundle. The U-shaped stake is fastened in place around the tubes of the bundle by suitable fasteners extending between the two arms of the stake.
One problem with the pressed configuration of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,442 is that the stakes do not create a positive location for each individual tube, although the stake is locked into place in its selected tube lane. The tubes remain free to vibrate in one plane parallel to the tube lane and parallel to the stake. A different problem exists with the design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,155: although the tubes in rows encircled by the U-shaped stakes are fully supported, the tubes at the periphery of the tube bundle which are not directly encircled by one of the stakes i.e., retained within one of the closed ends of the U-shaped stakes (these are the outer tubes in alternate rows which are not encircled by the ends of the U-shaped stakes), are free to move and vibration in these tubes can be expected under certain conditions. In addition, because the corrugation of the tube support has a transition region before reaching its full depth, the two tubes adjacent to each of the outermost tubes do not receive any vibration mitigation either.
One disadvantage of the stake designs which use channel pressings to accommodate the distance between the tubes forming a single tube lane is that deep channel pressings are required or other measures necessary when the tube lane is relatively wide. A more complicated form of tube support is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,803 (Hahn). This stake uses two V-shaped pressings separated by compression springs which force the stakes against the tubes on opposite sides of the tube lane in order to dampen oscillatory vibrations. This form of stake is, however, quite expensive to manufacture. A unitary stake which will accommodate relatively wide tube lanes without the complication of separate parts therefore remains desirable.